Ethical Communities

I believe that some online games can create ethical communities. I feel it also depends on the type of online games that can be able to attain this. If the people that play have a good strong base of ethics in the real world then it will carry into the virtual one, but someone that has no respect for rules and regulations or authority than why would they change for virtual reality. I guess that if they did it would be only because they are being watched or regulated and would be banned from playing. So I do agree that online gaming is not to be thought of as a place to be teaching ethics but how to abide by them.

Gaming Journal Questions Day 1

My avatar looks kind of like a bull I believe that it is called a Tauren. He has huge horns, a goatee, a giant hammer thing as a weapon. The gender is male the race is some type of bull. The Race is a Tauren. The colors are brown and a tan mixed in together. The thing that motivated my choices for the way I created my avatar was that the name has warfare in it so I wanted to make the biggest most intimidating character that I could make. The other choices that were available were Draenei, Blood Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Taurens, Humans, Trolls, Night Elves, and the Undead. The other options didnt really appeal to me as much as the Tauren did because the Tauren is big and muscular and I like to think that im big and muscular. Other players will just percieve my character as just another tauren because I seen a few of them that looked just like mine did. Cultural norm did not help my decision because to me all of the characters are ugly and the Tauren is one of the ugliest ones. Also the avatar represents aspects of me that represent me like the strength and the power.

avatar choice

Avatar choice is important in an online multiplayer games because the character can desribe what your personality is like. I think that people might pick somethin that would look cool or somethin that appeals to them. I think those kind of things can tell a lot about a person even though that it is in the virtual world. When I did my avatar for World Of Warcraft I tried to make look really cool. My cousin on the other hand tried to make the biggest and most intimidating avatar as he could and it reminded me of him because he is really tall and intimidating if you dont know him. So I believe that the avatar tells alot about that user.

Avatar Choice

I think that avatar choice and customization has a lot to do with the game that your playing. I find it to be similar to everyday life in the fact the most people want to be considered "normal," which is very subjective because what is normal really? Anyways, I think that fitting in can be just as important in a virtual world as it is in the here and now. I think that being able to customize an avatar allows people creative freedom to be whatever character they would like to be, but at the same time these characters fit within a world. For example you would most likely not see sonic the hedgehog rolling into the mario bros world. So therefore there is some sort of limit as you have to pick a character within a subset. I think that in general people like choices and like the control of choosing different aspects of there characters. It helps to connect with ones virtual self. I think that it gives more interaction than if every character was just a standard unchangeable version. I think its a great feature, but i don't think that if a person truely enjoyed a game it would deter them if they were not able to customize there character.

Avatar Choice

I do believe that Avatars represent our ideal selves, not our actual self. Since we are participating in virtual reality, many people choose a person that they would WANT to be, not what they actually are. This can be noted in other online sites, such as social networking and dating sites- people represent themselves in a much better light than they actually might be in reality. I am not implying that there is no truth in a person's online identity.....but I find that for the most part, people choose "roles" and personas online which do not reflect their actual self and character.

avatar choice

I think when people create their avatar on games, it does reflect who they are. Most people pick something that represents them selves. You pick something that appeals to you. When I created my avatar on World of Warcraft, I picked something I liked. I made it the way I wanted it to look, which is "cute". I believe when people go to create their avatar even if they just randomly pick something some how they picked it for a reason, and it shows some part of them.

Avatar Selection

It seems to me that what you look like both in reality and in virtual reality have the same consequences. So therefore the choices you make for your avatar's appearance are very important. You need to display that you are strong and confident so it would seem that we would make our avatar tall and good looking, because that is what society has us believe, someone short and homely has no credibility. I seen a program were they had around eight men all very good looking but very short, in a room and women were brought in to meet them and see if they were compatible. Not one women would give them the time of day,even after hearing they were millionaires and very successful doctors.That open my eyes to the truth of how we view one another.